Academic Plan
If given the chance to continue at Queens University in the upcoming 2019-2020 year, I have come up with a set of goals and plans I will carry on throughout the year. One of my biggest difficulties was being able to finish the coursework. A solution I've come up with, which was very difficult at first, was getting into a routine. There are a specific number of hours I need to put in for different courses. Trying to juggle 5 courses through summer school is nowhere near easy. It's almost a skill that you need to develop. At the beginning, my sleep schedule was all over the place, sometimes I wouldn't see the light of day for weeks. The solution I came up for this is coming up with a specific routine where I could get used to doing work at specific times. Setting specific times for working and eating and leisure time is very important. When I didn't have a routine I would never know when to start and that would increase my procrastination. Having a routine for when school at Kingston starts again, I would need to add in my class schedule and make a routine that would compliment my class, tutorial, and lab times. As of right now I am enrolled in online summer school, so it's quite lenient. Having a routine made for just summer school is a good start to getting ready for my routines in the fall semester. Here is an example of my how my schedule looks at the moment.
Attached as a document.
In complete honesty, this is a very simple schedule, and most of the time, the designated spots I have for courses, I don't need, but I continue trying to perfect in each and every single course. Having a schedule like this makes things easier to keep up with. Not to mention, I have monthly schedules to mark specific due dates, tests, and exams. With this method, everything becomes much more crystal clear and you don't need to keep trying to remember what you need to do for every course in the back of your mind. Leaving leisure time and a having a day off is very important, you need to find a balance in where you can succeed the most, which is how I designed my schedule to keep up with my academics and job. I know that if I could keep up with the 5 courses I have during summer school and a job, and still have a social life and some solitude, I can keep up with my fall term classes and finally perform at my best.
I'm not completely sure if this is the type of thing that must be included in an academic plan, but having a routine, really keeps me sane and intact with reality. There's no rush to finish any assignments or prepare for tests because you have already learned what you need to throughout the week and during the designated times. This way, you can avoid any procrastination and last-minute preparation.
As I am an undeclared student, I would love to major in physics and minor in life sciences. Although this may seem very hard, these are the easiest courses for me. I know I didn't display that throughout my grades, but throughout this summer, I've been taking a numerous amount of life science courses, and with the schedule, I have been able to go at my best pace and most of the time, go further than the content intended for that week. I am also doing my own research with physics and mathematics. With some of the stuff I missed during my calculus and PHYS104 class, I go over and learn all over again so I wouldn't have any difficulty with continuing with these courses. I am confident that this type of schedule will work in the upcoming year because it is working very good with my summer school. I am more than excited to try it out with my fall term classes, which I will attend because my sleep schedule would complement my class timings. That way I could attend my classes and avoid the issue of falling behind. This schedule is specially designed so that I could actually learn some of the courses contents before even attending the lecture. After experimenting with some methods, I found that I perform extremely well when I learn some concepts before even walking into class, and this schedule will allow me to do that.
As mentioned previously, I did not have a problem with the course content, it was always the course load and assignments. I can easily finish an assignment within the span of two hours, but when all of them started piling on top of each other, that's when I experienced my greatest down fall and came to the realization I had to work hard at the same time and not just work smart all of the time. My schedule in the last two years was messy, in fact, I never even made one. With this schedule now, I have designated time to finish what I need to finish for every course, and it's much less stressful than doing multiple assignments at the same time.
I am also willing to visit Student Academic Success Services. Maybe not for any sort of therapy but having someone there that I could inform about how I'm doing with my course load and courses would be beneficial. This way, I don't feel like I can take advantage of anything, I could just come in and talk about how I'm doing. Having that type of support would be beneficial for me, instead of feeling like I'm getting a bunch of extensions when they're not needed. This will avoid the cycle from repeating.
As I am still continuing with my summer school courses till August, I am very well aware that I will come up with even more methods and perfect in some of these skills. Every single day, I'm developing into a much more successful student than I ever was. Words cannot express how excited I am to continue learning, taking more courses and expanding my mind. I love challenges, and now that I've unlocked the secret to my personal success, I am confident to say, I'm most likely going to be out of academic probation before classes commence of Fall 2019. I am well aware that this is a very bold statement, but I really know it's finally my time to shine and perform my maximum at this university. My roommate of two years has provided a letter on my behalf explaining my circumstances from her perspective. I'd like to thank you once more for giving me the opportunity to express my side of the story, and hopefully I can continue learning in September.
Attached as a document.
In complete honesty, this is a very simple schedule, and most of the time, the designated spots I have for courses, I don't need, but I continue trying to perfect in each and every single course. Having a schedule like this makes things easier to keep up with. Not to mention, I have monthly schedules to mark specific due dates, tests, and exams. With this method, everything becomes much more crystal clear and you don't need to keep trying to remember what you need to do for every course in the back of your mind. Leaving leisure time and a having a day off is very important, you need to find a balance in where you can succeed the most, which is how I designed my schedule to keep up with my academics and job. I know that if I could keep up with the 5 courses I have during summer school and a job, and still have a social life and some solitude, I can keep up with my fall term classes and finally perform at my best.
I'm not completely sure if this is the type of thing that must be included in an academic plan, but having a routine, really keeps me sane and intact with reality. There's no rush to finish any assignments or prepare for tests because you have already learned what you need to throughout the week and during the designated times. This way, you can avoid any procrastination and last-minute preparation.
As I am an undeclared student, I would love to major in physics and minor in life sciences. Although this may seem very hard, these are the easiest courses for me. I know I didn't display that throughout my grades, but throughout this summer, I've been taking a numerous amount of life science courses, and with the schedule, I have been able to go at my best pace and most of the time, go further than the content intended for that week. I am also doing my own research with physics and mathematics. With some of the stuff I missed during my calculus and PHYS104 class, I go over and learn all over again so I wouldn't have any difficulty with continuing with these courses. I am confident that this type of schedule will work in the upcoming year because it is working very good with my summer school. I am more than excited to try it out with my fall term classes, which I will attend because my sleep schedule would complement my class timings. That way I could attend my classes and avoid the issue of falling behind. This schedule is specially designed so that I could actually learn some of the courses contents before even attending the lecture. After experimenting with some methods, I found that I perform extremely well when I learn some concepts before even walking into class, and this schedule will allow me to do that.
As mentioned previously, I did not have a problem with the course content, it was always the course load and assignments. I can easily finish an assignment within the span of two hours, but when all of them started piling on top of each other, that's when I experienced my greatest down fall and came to the realization I had to work hard at the same time and not just work smart all of the time. My schedule in the last two years was messy, in fact, I never even made one. With this schedule now, I have designated time to finish what I need to finish for every course, and it's much less stressful than doing multiple assignments at the same time.
I am also willing to visit Student Academic Success Services. Maybe not for any sort of therapy but having someone there that I could inform about how I'm doing with my course load and courses would be beneficial. This way, I don't feel like I can take advantage of anything, I could just come in and talk about how I'm doing. Having that type of support would be beneficial for me, instead of feeling like I'm getting a bunch of extensions when they're not needed. This will avoid the cycle from repeating.
As I am still continuing with my summer school courses till August, I am very well aware that I will come up with even more methods and perfect in some of these skills. Every single day, I'm developing into a much more successful student than I ever was. Words cannot express how excited I am to continue learning, taking more courses and expanding my mind. I love challenges, and now that I've unlocked the secret to my personal success, I am confident to say, I'm most likely going to be out of academic probation before classes commence of Fall 2019. I am well aware that this is a very bold statement, but I really know it's finally my time to shine and perform my maximum at this university. My roommate of two years has provided a letter on my behalf explaining my circumstances from her perspective. I'd like to thank you once more for giving me the opportunity to express my side of the story, and hopefully I can continue learning in September.